Woman makes court appearance
By LESLEY TOTH
Mille Lacs County Times
Area resident Mary Roelofs made her first court appearance this past Tuesday stemming from child abuse charges that were filed February 10 in Mille Lacs County.
Surrounded by family and friends, Roelofs appeared before Judge Vicki Landwehr who set conditional bail and released the defendant on her own recognizance. The conditions of bail require Roelofs to remain in Minnesota, keep the court apprised of her current address, remain law-abiding and have no contact with the victim, the victim’s mother and have no unsupervised contact with any minor children.
Assistant County Attorney Melissa Saterbak had at first requested zero contact with minor children. Roelofs’ lawyer, Kevin DeBoer of St. Paul, told Judge Landwehr that all foster children had been removed from the home but Roelofs makes regular contact with minor children in her intimate circle. Landwehr amended the conditions to allow for supervised contact with those children.
Roelofs has been charged with three counts of malicious punishment of a child, one count of child neglect and one count of endangerment of a child. Her next court appearance is scheduled for April 13.
Having known this family for as long as I have, I can’t say that I am one bit surprised by this incident. I AM surprised that it has taken so long for someone to finally come forward. The Wolbert/Roelof families personally made me feel belittled and inadequate as a child. I think their treatment was mainly due to the fact that they did not deem my family to be “good enough” or “christian” enough. I have since gone on to be successful in my chosen profession and am in a highly respected graduate school.
If Mary is unable to give a highly plausible and convincing explaination for the marks found on this child then it stand to reason that she did in fact abuse this little boy. For the saftey and well being of him and all future children I hope and pray to God that she nor her family is allowed to foster ever again.
The term foster means to ” encourage or promote the development of something, (typically something regarded as good). Some synonyms for foster are to raise – cherish – bring up – nurture – nurse – cultivate. She has failed miserably in upholding these attributes of what it means to foster. Not knowing the background of this child it is easy to assume that being as how he is in the foster care system he was a traumatic background that led to his being removed from his biological family. What she has done is further traumatize him and hinder his developmental process. How is this boy supposed to develope trust or appropriate social and emotional skills when the adults in his life, whom have been entrusted with his care, are the ones harming him?
Having my own 3 year old, I can’t believe that she would expect him to carry wood or sweep a garage! A 3 year old child is no where near physically developed enough to manage the coordination it takes to sweep a floor! And placing a child outside in the cold without the proper clothing for the elements is not only irresponsible it is cruel!
And after having read some previous comments on this story I am at a loss of words that someone would believe this is part of a smear campaign! A DOCTOR saw the bruises! As a mandate reporter they report the facts regardless of who a person is or what family they may come from. And as for her being so “godly” all I have to say is that going to church and participating in church events does not make you a “godly” person. Your actions when you think no one is watching determines the type of person you truly are.
I dearly hope that other former foster children come forward to tell their story. I would also like to know the emotional impact that being under her care had on them because I fully suspect that despite the fact that was a foster parent you are supposed to raise these poor children as your own she misused and abused them on many levels besides just the physical.
I am glad that you spoke up! As far as I am concerned, if my child was in the care of someone else and that person punched him repeatedly and abused him, sad to say, but that person would be in the hospital and I would be in jail. What kind of person does these things to children??? I know a couple of the Wolberts and from what I have seen, they are NOT good christian people. It’s all a front, but behind closed doors, it’s a different story!